Dynamic Response and Control of Multipass Heat Exchangers

Abstract

The transfer functions obtained by dynamic analysis of one shell pass and 2, 3, 4, ….., 2n, 2n + 1 tube-pass heat exchangers as a distributed parameter system are presented in dimensionless forms. The heat-exchange processes are found to be governed by the third-order characteristic equations with complex coefficients, and can be solved numerically using a graphical method. The numerical examples are presented to show the clear difference of frequency response for such cases when no solid capacity exists. The analog computer and the experimental results are found to be in good agreement with the theoretical results.